Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T15:18:12.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Glacial Chronology of the Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William J. Wayne
William J. Wayne*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range, one of the interior mountain groups of the Basin and Range Province, lies about midway between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. After Blackwelder's description in his review of glaciation in the western mountains, Sharp mapped and named the deposits of the Lamoille and Angel Lake glaciations and correlated them with early and late Wisconsin deposits of the Great Lakes area. The refinement of relative dating (RD) methods, the availability of airphotos and modern topographic maps, and new road cuts have aided the restudy of these alpine glacial deposits and the basis for their correlation. Lamoille moraines are smooth ridges and show little detail of constructional topography. Valleys glaciated only by Lamoille ice still show the characteristics of a glaciated trough, but they have been greatly modified by weathering and erosion. Granite boulders on Lamoille moraines are pitted, and pegmatites have grotesque shapes with 30-cm-deep pits. Cuts through Lamoille end moraines (and alluvial talus cones) expose a thick soil profile with a well-developed blocky structure in a reddish-brown argillic B horizon. Subsurface granitic boulders in the B horizon of Lamoille tills show much greater weathering than do those in Angel Lake tills. In contrast, Angel Lake moraines are irregular and rugged, contain closed depressions, and have been little altered since deposition. Surfaces scoured by Angel Lake ice are fresh and unweathered. Granites of Angel Lake moraines have weathered surfaces but show little pitting; pegmatites have pits up to 10 cm deep. The thin soil profiles on Angel Lake tills and alluvial talus cones display brown colors, minor clay accumulation, and no B-horizon structure. These weathering and morphological differences suggest that the Lamoille deposits have been exposed to weathering and erosion for a period of time as much as an order of magnitude longer than the Angel Lake deposits. Thus only the Angel Lake is Wisconsinan in age, and the Lamoille drift is more reasonably correlated with the Illinoian Stage of the Great Lakes region.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , May 1984 , pp. 286 - 303
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alden, W.C., Leighton, M.M. (1915). The Iowan drift Iowa Geological Survey 26, 50–212 Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. (1964). Pleistocene glaciation of the northern Sierra Nevada, north of Lake Tahoe, California Journal of Geology 72, 810–825 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. (1974). Pedology, Weathering, and Geomorphological Research Oxford Univ. Press London/New York Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W., Colman, S.M., Burke, R.M., Shroba, R.R., Meierding, T.C. (1979). Nomenclature of alpine glacial deposits, or what's in a name? Geology 7, 532–536 Google Scholar
Birman, J.H. (1964). Glacial geology across the crest of the Sierra Nevada, California Geological Society of America Special Paper 75, Google Scholar
Blackwelder, E.B. (1931). Pleistocene glaciation in the Sierra Nevada and Basin ranges Geological Society of America Bulletin 42, 865–922 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, R.M., Birkeland, P.W. (1979). Reevaluation of multiparameter relative dating techniques and their application to the glacial sequence along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, California Quaternary Research 11, 21–51 Google Scholar
Colman, S.M. (1981). Rock-weathering rates as functions of time Quaternary Research 15, 250–264 Google Scholar
Colman, S.M., Pierce, K.L. (1981). Weathering Rinds on Andesitic and Basaltic Stones as a Quaternary Age Indicator, Western United States U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1210Google Scholar
Dalrymple, R.B., Burke, R.M., Birkeland, P.W. (1982). Concerning KAr dating of a basalt flow from the Tahoe-Tioga interglaciation, Sawmill Canyon, southeastern Sierra Nevada, California Quaternary Research 17, 120–122 Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., Matthews, R.K. (1978). The marine oxygen isotope record in Pleistocene coral, Barbados, West Indies Quaternary Research 10, 181–196 Google Scholar
Flint, R.F. (1947). Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch Wiley New York Google Scholar
Gray, H.H., Wayne, W.J., Wier, C.E. (1970). Geologic Map of the 1° × 2° Vincennes Quadrangle and Parts of Adjoining Quadrangles, Indiana and Illinois, Showing Bedrock and Unconsolidated Deposits Indiana Geological Survey Regional Geologic Map No. 3Google Scholar
Howard, K.A. (1971). Paleozoic metasediments in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada Geological Society of America Bulletin 82, 259–264 Google Scholar
Howard, K.A., Kistler, R.W., Snoke, A.W., Willden, R. (1979). Geologic Map of the Ruby Mountains, Nevada U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations, Map I-1136Google Scholar
Johnson, W.H. (1976). Quaternary stratigraphy in Illinois: Status and current problems Mahaney, W.C. Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America Academic Press New York 161–196 Google Scholar
Kay, G.F. (1928). The relative ages of the Iowan and Illinoian drift sheets American Journal of Science 216, 497–518 Google Scholar
Leighton, M.M. (1933). The naming of the subdivisions of the Wisconsin glacial age Science 77, 168 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leighton, M.M., Brophy, J.A. (1961). Illinoian glaciation in Illinois Journal of Geology 69, 1–31 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leverett, F. (1899). The Illinois glacial lobe U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 53, CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leverett, F. (1926). The Pleistocene glacial stages: Were there more than four? Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 65, 105–118 Google Scholar
Leverett, F. (1929). Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere Geological Society of America Bulletin 40, 745–760 Google Scholar
Leverett, F. (1930). Problems of the glacialist Science 71, 47–57 Google Scholar
Leverett, F. (1939). The place of the Iowan drift Journal of Geology 47, 398–407 Google Scholar
Madsen, D.B., Curry, D.R. (1979). Late Quaternary glacial and vegetational changes, Little Cottonwood Canyon area, Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Quaternary Research 12, 254–270 Google Scholar
Mahaney, W.C. (1978). Late-Quaternary stratigraphy and soils in the Wind River Mountains, western Wyoming Mahaney, W.C. Quaternary Soils Geo Abstracts Norwich, U.K 223–263 Google Scholar
Malott, C.A. (1922). The physiography of Indiana Handbook of Indiana Geology Indiana Dept. Conservation 59–256 Pub. 21Google Scholar
Pierce, K.L. (1979). History and Dynamics of Glaciation in the Northern Yellowstone National Park Area U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 729-FGoogle Scholar
Pierce, K.L., Obradovich, J.D., Friedman, I. (1976). Obsidian hydration dating and correlation of Bull Lake and Pinedale Glaciations near west Yellowstone, Montana Geological Society of America Bulletin 87, 703–710 Google Scholar
Richmond, G.M. (1964). Glaciation of Little Cottonwood and Bells Canyons, Utah U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 454-D, 1–41 Google Scholar
Richmond, G.M. (1965). Glaciation of the Rocky Mountains Wright, H.E. Jr., Frey, D.G. Quaternary of the United States Princeton Univ. Press Princeton, N.J 217–230 Google Scholar
Ruhe, R.V. (1969). Quaternary Landscapes in Iowa Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D. (1973). Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale Quaternary Research 3, 39–55 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, R.P. (1938). Pleistocene glaciation in the Ruby-East Humboldt Range, northeastern Nevada Journal of Geomorphology 1, 296–323 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P. (1939). Basin Range structure of the Ruby-East Humboldt Range, northeastern Nevada Geological Society of America Bulletin 50, 881–920 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P. (1960). Pleistocene glaciation in the Trinity Alps of northern California American Journal of Science 258, 305–340 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P. (1968). Sherwin Till-Bishop Tuff geological relationships, Sierra Nevada, California Geological Society of American Bulletin 79, 351–364 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P. (1972). Pleistocene glaciation, Bridgeport Basin, California Geological Society of America Bulletin 83, 2233–2260 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P., Birman, J.H. (1963). Additions to classical sequence of Pleistocene glaciations, Sierra Nevada, California Geological Society of America Bulletin 74, 1079–1086 Google Scholar
Shroba, R.R. (1977). Soil Development in Quaternary Tills, Rock-Glacier Deposits, and Taluses, Southern and Central Rocky Mountains Ph.D. dissertation University of Colorado Boulder Google Scholar